


Happy birthday, Henry and Arthur!

by FonzFan82



Series: TV Comeback [6]
Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-31
Updated: 2014-08-30
Packaged: 2018-02-15 11:45:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2227788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FonzFan82/pseuds/FonzFan82
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry and Arthur celebrate their 68th birthday. They get a surprising telephone call from Arthur's daughter, Hannah. What kind of surprise telephone call is it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Their birthday was coming near. It was late at night when Arthur was asleep in his bedroom and didn't hear Henry at all. Henry had been awake because he wasn't feeling very good. He stayed in bed when Arthur was ready to get up and dressed and have breakfast. He was calling Henry and everything.

"I'm afraid I can't help you today, Arthur. I don't feel so great today. I'll have to call the Peters and have them help us," he called from his bedroom.

"What's wrong?" Arthur called back.

"I don't know. I think I might need to go to the hospital for this. I think it might be my appendix," Henry called back.

"It's never been a problem in the past," Arthur called back from his bedroom.

"I know that."

Henry grabbed his cell phone from under his pillow and dialed the Peters. Victoria Peters answered the phone when the kids were heading out of the door for the school bus.

"Hi, Mrs. Peters. This is Henry Webber," Henry said when Victoria picked up the phone.

"Hi, Henry. How are you and Arthur doing? We haven't spoken to you for a few weeks. We heard Senator Webber got married," Victoria said.

"Yes. She is married. They are in Italy for a while longer before they return home. I'm calling to ask you and Mark to come over to help myself and Arthur out. I can't help him today because I'm not feeling so great. I think there's something wrong with my appendix. I think it started a few hours ago," Henry said.

"We'll be happy to help. The kids just left for the school bus. Mark and I will be over. Don't move. Where are you?" Victoria asked.

"Upstairs. My bedroom is two doors across the hall from his on the right. It should be easy to find. He hasn't eaten anything yet. I'm not eating because of what's going on now."

"Okay, Henry. I'll see if we can take you out to the hospital right away," Victoria told him.

They got off the phone.

"Who were you talking to?" Mr. Peters asked.

"We need to go to the Webbers', Mark. Henry just called and said he isn't feeling so great this morning and they're still in their bedrooms. He couldn't help Arthur because he got sick."

"What happened to him?" Mark asked as they started walking to Henry and Arthur's house.

"His appendix. That's why he isn't helping Arthur out. He told us how to get to their bedrooms," Victoria said and told him how to get there.

"You drive Henry to the hospital and I'll see what I can do about Arthur. Have they eaten?" Mark asked.

"No, they haven't, Henry said."

They found the bedrooms with no trouble.

"We're going to do it this way, Henry. Mark's going to stay here with Arthur and I'm taking you to the hospital," Victoria told Henry when they went into the separate bedrooms.

"Okay by me," he said when he heard the arrangement.

Victoria and Henry drove off in Mark's car while the other two stayed at the house.

"This appendix thing can't happen before our birthday," Arthur told Mark as they sat down at the kitchen table.

"Well, it did for some reason, Arthur. What would you like to eat for breakfast?" Mark asked.

Arthur told him eggs and bacon and toast and juice.

"Okay. Coming right up."

"I have an idea what to do for Dad and Uncle Henry's birthday, Tim," Hannah said as they were in their hotel room.

"What's that?" he asked in his quiet voice.

"We can have someone come here into the hotel room and have them sing happy birthday to Uncle Henry in Italian," Hannah said.

"That's an idea. We can do that. Would they like it?" he asked in his library voice.

"We'll find out if we try it," she said.

Henry checked out of the hospital the day before his birthday.

"I feel so much better now, Victoria," Henry said to Mrs. Peters when they drove back to the neighborhood.

"I bet you do. We kept Arthur at our house while you were in the hospital," Victoria said.

"Thanks. I really appreciate that, and so does he," Henry said.

"We'd be happy to keep Arthur at our house for the time you have to rest, like the doctor ordered," Victoria Peters told him.

"That's not necessary. I'd like to spend one special day with Arthur, which is tomorrow. Our birthday."

She thought about it.

"Well, all right. Then after that, you follow the doctor's orders, like she told you," Mrs. Peters told Henry.

"I know. I heard what she said."

She dropped Henry off at his and Arthur's house and saw him walk in and went back to her house where her husband was with Arthur.

"How did it go with Henry?" Mark asked after they said hello when she walked into the house.

"Things are just fine, Mark. The doctor gave him strict orders to rest for a few days, that's all. I told Henry we could keep you here while he's to follow those doctor's orders, Arthur. He wants to celebrate your birthday together tomorrow," Mrs. Peters told Arthur.

"Okay. Tomorrow is the twenty - eighth," Arthur told them.

"We know," Mrs. Peters said.

Henry went to the couch in the living room and turned on the television. He decided to watch one of his favorite TV shows for an hour. It was an adventure show. When the hour was over, the telephone rang. He turned the mute button off, and headed to the telephone to answer it.

"Hello?" Henry said on the second ring.

"Hi, Uncle Henry," he heard Hannah say on the other end of the phone.

"Hi. How are the honeymooners?" he asked.

"Fine. We're enjoying Italy," she said.

"That's good to hear," he said, sitting on one of the kitchen chairs.

"Is Dad there? We have your birthday gift here on the telephone and thought you two would enjoy it," Hannah said.

"No. He's at the Peters' house until tomorrow."

"What is Dad doing over there?" Hannah asked.

"He's over there because I just came back from the hospital. I was there because I got my appendix taken out," Henry told her.

"Are you feeling okay now?" she asked after Henry finished telling her what happened.

"Yes, I'm fine. He's going to stay there until I am completely rested from the surgery."

"Glad to hear it went okay, Uncle Henry. We want you two to hear your birthday gift over the phone. We're doing more sightseeing and shopping after we're done giving you our gift," Hannah told him.

"He won't be here to hear it, Hannah. Unless you want me to go over there and get him," Henry said.

"You can get him. We can wait, Uncle Henry."

"Hold on. It won't take very long."

He put the phone down and headed out the door to get Arthur from the Peters' house.

While waiting for them to hear their Italian happy birthday song, Hannah told Tim what Henry told her.

"Those things happen, Hannah. Why are we waiting?" Tim asked in his library voice.

"He went to the neighbors' to get Dad. That's where he is," Hannah said to her husband.

"Henry, you're supposed to be lying down," Victoria told him.

"I'm on the telephone long - distance from Italy. Hannah has our birthday gift for us on the telephone. She wants Dad to hear it."

"All right. When you're done with the phone call, you're to lie down," she said to Henry.

"Okay," he said as he and Arthur left the house and headed to their house.

"Have you heard our birthday gift yet?" Arthur asked.

"No. That's why they want to do it so we can hear it at the same time," Henry said.

"I don't know why Mrs. Peters is being strict to you, Henry," Arthur said.

"She's just trying to follow the doctor's orders, that's all," he said.

"What's the TV doing on?" Arthur asked.

"I was watching it. I'm leaving it on when we're done with Hannah and Tim," Hannah heard Henry say to Henry in the background.

"What are they talking about?" Tim asked.

"I don't know," she said.

"Okay, sweetheart, we're both on the phone now," Henry told Hannah.

Hannah gave the Italian person the signal to start singing the Italian version of happy birthday. So she started singing happy birthday. When she finished, Hannah spoke again.

"That's your gift from Italy. That's the least we can do. You'll get souvenirs when we get back in a few days. We're going to get off the phone now. Glad to hear you're feeling better, Uncle Henry. Once again, happy birthday," Hannah said as they got off the phone.

"Before I start following doc's orders, Arthur, let me take you to the Peters' again. I know she'll start yelling at me again like she did when I came over to pick you up so we could hear the happy birthday in Italian," Henry said.

"What did you think of it?" Arthur asked.

"I liked it. She didn't have to do that," Henry said.

"You meant to tell her about the appendix? That would've had waited till after they came back from the honeymoon, not during the honeymoon. She'll worry about that until they get back," Arthur said, knowing his daughter.

"I knew it couldn't wait anymore, so I had to tell her," Henry said as they rang the Peters' bell.

Mr. Peters answered the bell and found them on the doorstep.

"I see you two are done on the telephone, Henry. I don't want Vicki yelling at you again about the doctor's orders. You know what they are, so go home and we'll worry about Arthur for a few days more," Mark told Henry.

"What about our birthday tomorrow? I want to celebrate it with him. It means a lot," Henry told Mr. Peters.

"We'll see. We'll think about it. We'll check on you from time to time and decide about your birthday later on," he said as he watched Henry leave and walk back to his house.

He turned the volume back on the TV set and flipped the channels for a few minutes before finding a good shows to watch. After getting into ten minutes of the show, he fell asleep. After being asleep for an hour, he began to snore. He had slept most of the day without moving from the couch and the television talking away. He never heard Mrs. Peters coming to see how he was doing. She saw he had left the TV on, so she turned it off with the clicker. When she came back to her house, Arthur was waiting to find out how Henry was doing.

"How is he doing?" Arthur asked, worrying about his brother a bit.

"He's snoring, but asleep. He didn't hear me come in, Arthur. Does Henry snore?" Mrs. Peters asked.

"Sometimes yes, sometimes no."

"I'm going grocery shopping, Arthur. It's a good idea you come along because nobody's here to look after you and Mark's at work," Victoria told him.

"Okay. I can come," he said.

"Before we get there, we're going to stop at the mailbox and pick up the mail for the two of us. Both yours and ours," Mrs. Peters said.

"Okay," he said.

"What kind of birthday gift did you get from on Italy on the phone?" Mrs. Peters wanted to know when they got into the car.

"The Italian version of happy birthday. We enjoyed it," Arthur told her.

"Does Hannah speak in Italian at all?" she asked.

"No. Neither does my son - in - law. They got someone to sing to us that does speak it to sing to us," Arthur said.

"Oh. Interesting."

While they were out sightseeing, Hannah did worry about Henry about Henry. Arthur was right about her worrying about Henry.

"What's wrong?" he asked Hannah.

"Just thinking about Uncle Henry and that appendix surgery he just had, Timmy. From the stories I hear from them growing up, that's never happened. Why would something go wrong with the appendix at this age? Why so recent?" Hannah asked.

"I don't know. We'll learn more about it when we come back and give them souvenirs," Tim said.

They found a nearby shopping place and she walked in and started shopping and found something for Henry and Arthur.

"Timmy, Uncle Henry and Dad are turning sixty - eight tomorrow and this appendix surgery he recently had never happened at all when they were younger. Why would something go wrong with his appendix at this age? They might get some major health problems later in life," Hannah told him.

"I hear you, but I don't have any ideas or opinions to give you, Hannah. Did you have any relatives who had any kind of health problems?" he asked.

"Yeah. Their father, Warren. He was diabetic. I don't know why they went diabetic at all in life. Grandpa Warren went diabetic when he was fifteen years old and stayed like that until he was one hundred years old. One of our uncles was like that also, but he had a great music career," Hannah said.

Henry awoke at 2:00 that afternoon, finding the TV set off. He remembered he left it on when he fell asleep, not off. He got up from the couch to sit on the floor and do some stretching exercises he often did at the gym. After doing that, he headed for the restroom. He was still feeling stiff after doing those exercises. He came back to the living room after flushing the toilet and found Mrs. Peters in the house.

"How are you feeling, Henry?" she asked.

"Fine. Just a little stiff, that's all," he said.

"The last time I was here, you were sound asleep," she said.

"I was? I didn't hear you. I guess I was," he said.

"I got your mail when Arthur and I went grocery shopping this morning," she said.


	2. Chapter 2

She handed him their mail.

"Thank you. You didn't have to do that," he said, flipping through the day's mail.

He saw that they had sent him the script from the TV show they wanted him to do.

"What's that?" Mrs. Peters asked Henry.

"A script for a TV show. They hear it might be a hit. They want me to be on it," Henry told her.

"How interesting. For now, you know you're supposed to be here at the house, resting," she said.

"I know that," he said.

He took the mail with him and went back to the house. He sat on the couch and opened the script and began to read it. He read half the script the rest of the afternoon. He was laughing at the script he was reading since he began reading it. The more he read the script, the more he worried about Arthur. He knew he hadn't done any acting for over twenty or thirty years now and he didn't know what his audience would think if he did come back doing that new show.

He also thought about his fans while he read the script and wondered if they had missed him over the twenty or thirty years he was gone. He decided to do take - out for dinner that night because of the script, so he did more by ordering Chinese last night. While eating dinner, he kept reading and eating and laughing at the same time. When he laughed out loud during a funny part, he almost choked on his dinner. He thought he would do the show, like they wanted him to.

That night, Henry called his agent, Patrick and told him he decided to go ahead and do the show.

"That script is really funny, Patrick. I laughed through the thing. I almost choked on my dinner tonight," Henry told Patrick.

"Glad to hear you enjoyed the script, Henry. We'd like to see you at the beginning of the month for rehearsal," Patrick told Henry.

"So soon? I'll be there," he said and they were off the phone.

He saw how tired he was, so he went to bed at nine o'clock that night. He ended up sleeping until nine on his birthday the next morning, which was March twenty - eighth.

When he woke up, he turned the radio on for the weather report. He heard the birthday announcements before they announced the weather. He heard his name being called.

"They called me!" he said to himself after listening to the birthday announcements.

They announced the weather as rainy and cloudy that day. He turned the radio off, got into the shower and headed for the kitchen and made himself some breakfast. After breakfast was over, he called the Peters and asked how Arthur was doing that morning.

"He's just fine, Henry," Mark Peters told him.

"I'd like to spend today because it's our birthday today," Henry said to Mark.

"That's all right, Henry. We'll bring him in an hour or so. He's in the shower now. Our oldest son is helping him with that now," Mr. Peters said.

"Okay. I'm over at the house," Henry said.

"Okay. We'll bring him over," Mr. Peters said as they hung up.

Henry couldn't wait to tell Arthur about the comeback to television. He also couldn't wait to tell Hannah and Tim, but that would have to wait when they came back from Italy. He knew he would be gone by then. He decided to call their hotel room at that moment and spread the word. He did so and got Hannah.

"Hi, sweetheart," Henry said when she picked up the phone.

"Hi, Uncle Henry," she said.

"I have something I want to talk about," he said.

"What's that? Happy birthday to you and Dad," she said.

"Thank you, sweetheart."

"What is it you want to talk about?" Hannah asked Henry.

"I won't be in Utah when you and Tim come back from Italy," he said.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"It's my career, Hannah, dear. I'll be working when you two come back to tell us about the honeymoon."

"You mean you're making a comeback? That's great, Uncle Henry! You haven't done anything for almost a decade," she said.

"I know. I just finished reading the script they sent and thought the new show would be a hit if I was in it," he said.

"What kind of show is it?" Hannah asked, getting interested.

"It's a comedy show," he told her.

"Sounds fun. What's Dad going to be doing?" she asked.

"That's what I'm worried about."

"Let Tim and me take him with us when we get back and the three of us can go to Boston together," Hannah said.

"Sounds like a good idea, Hannah. I can't care for your father and work at the same time, you know."

"True, Uncle Henry. Hope you two have a nice birthday."

"Thanks. When you two come back, your father will be at our neighbors' house, the Peters. They live only two doors down from us on the right, I believe."

"Thanks, Uncle Henry. We needed to know," Hannah said as they got off the phone.

The hour had passed and Arthur was at the house again.

"Arthur, there's something we have to talk about," Henry said as they were on the couch in the living room when Mark Peters left the house.

"What is it?" Arthur asked.

"The thing we're going to talk about is my career."

"Uh - oh. What is it this time?" Arthur asked his brother.

"You haven't heard the news yet. I just talked to Hannah a while back this morning and wanted her to know about it. She was happy to hear about what I told her. I thought you had to know also," he said to Arthur.

"Okay, bro, spit it out," Arthur said.

"I'm going back to TV, Arthur. I'm going back to it when Hannah and Tom come back from Italy. I won't be around when they tell about the honeymoon. You also know I haven't done anything with my career for over a decade now. It's time to go back to work. This new show is supposed to be hot and they want me on the show. I read the script and it made me laugh from beginning to end. I've never ready anything funny like that in my life," Henry told his brother.

"You're one of the best actors around, Henry. You know that," Arthur said.

"You also gave me a second job when I was going to do General Hospital. That's why I'm a popular actor these days," Henry said, remembering when Arthur told him about the action show and he should go on it.

"What am I going to do without you when you're going to be working again? You know I can't see a darn thing," Arthur said.

"I know that and you know that, but I talked with Hannah about that after telling her I was going to do TV again, and she loved the idea of my coming back to TV again, and she loved the idea of my doing a comeback and said she and Tim would come back when I'm gone and pick you up at the Peters' house and the three of you can go back to Boston when I'm working," Henry said.

"Sounds fine with me. Are you going to tell the Peters?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, I will tell them."


	3. Chapter 3

Their birthday had come and gone. Patrick had told Henry over the phone to fly out to Atlanta, Georgia for the show on the first of the month. Once Henry arrived at the studio from the airport, he met the cast for the show. He met with Patrick again later for dinner that night.

"What do you think of the cast, Henry?" he asked.

"Fine. Nobody like the cast from General Hospital I worked with," he said.

"The first episode is to be taped in a week or so," Patrick told him.

Patrick was studying Henry as they were talking over their meal.

"Henry, you've got another job to do. You're not going to look good on the camera looking like that," Patrick told him.

"What are you talking about? I look fine," he said.

"I'm sorry, Henry, you're going have to be on a diet for a while. You've gained some weight the last time I saw you. You're to loose forty pounds before the taping," Patrick told Henry.

"Can you do that?" Patrick asked.

Henry didn't say anything, so he didn't want to get into an argument with his agent.

"The kind of diet we're thinking of putting you on is Weight Watchers," Patrick told Henry.

"I know very little about Weight Watchers," Henry said.

Patrick gave him more details how the program worked.

"This is the only time we're telling you how it works, so you're going to listen carefully," Patrick told him.

So Patrick gave him detail by detail how Weight Watchers worked.

After the instructions were given out, Patrick also gave Henry a deadline for the Weight Watchers program on how long he should be on the program.

"Remember, forty pounds," Patrick said as he left Henry's dressing room.


	4. Chapter 4

He decided to call his family back in Boston at that moment. He wanted to hear how Arthur was managing and about the honeymoon. He picked up the phone and called Hannah's place. The phone was ringing a few times before someone picked it up. He got Tim's library voice instead of Hannah.

"Hi, Tim. This is Henry," Henry told Tim when he answered the phone.

"Hi, Henry. I heard you were going to make a comeback to television. How is that coming along?" Tim asked quietly.

"So - so. I never got to hear about your honeymoon. That's why I'm calling and I wanted to say hello to everyone," he said.

"The honeymoon was a blast," Tim said.

"Glad to hear, Tim. Where is Hannah? Is she home?" Henry asked.

"She's around, but she went to take Arthur to use the washroom," Tim said.

"Glad to hear he's doing fine," Henry said.

"The plane ride didn't go well for him because people were wondering why we were helping him. She had to explain so many times over and over that he needed someone around all the time now because of his being blind and all," Tim told Henry.

"It isn't being easy," Henry said.

"Who are you talking to, Timmy?" Henry heard Hannah ask in the background.

"One minute," Tim told Henry.

"Your uncle Henry, sweetheart. He wants to hear the details on the honeymoon," Tim said.

"That's right! He wasn't there when we went to pick Dad up," Hannah said.

She took the phone from Tim and took over the conversation. There was a knock on the dressing room door.

"Hi, Uncle Henry," Hannah said.

"Could you hold for a minute or so, Hannah? There's someone at my dressing room door."

"Okay. We'll hold."

He put the phone down and went to answer the knock. It was Patrick, his agent.

"Henry, there are some newspaper reporters outside that want to interview you for the paper. Who are you on the phone with?" Patrick asked, seeing that the phone was off the hook.

"My family. Is that a big deal?" Henry asked.

"No. What do I tell the newspaper reporters?" Patrick asked.

"Tell them to wait for a few minutes. I'll be out soon."

Patrick left the dressing room.

"I'm sorry, Hannah, dear. I've got to cut this conversation short. That was my agent, Patrick. He was saying I've got an interview with the newspaper."

"Okay, Uncle Henry. Do whatever's more important at the moment. We'll talk some other time and get caught up," Hannah said.

"I'll call you tonight when it's not so busy. I love you. Give your father my love," he said as they got off the phone.

"Who was on the phone, Hannah?" Arthur asked when he heard the phone click.

"Uncle Henry. He sounded pretty busy with this comeback thing, Dad," Hannah said to Arthur.

"He sounded a little depressed when I spoke to him, but didn't say what," Tim said.

"Depressed? That's not like Uncle Henry to be depressed about going back to television. Television is his life," Hannah said.

"Henry's never depressed. I know my brother," Arthur said.


	5. Chapter 5

He decided to join the newspaper reporters. A reporter named Richie happened to be one of them. He somehow heard about Henry's big comeback, so he was told fly all the way out to Atlanta and write up a column about Henry after interviewing him. He had gotten a promotion in the paper and moved into the gossip column instead of staying in the feature column the rest of his career.

The reporters were talking at the same time, asking Henry questions, so he was confused and answered their questions the best he could. There were lights flashing at him when they were asking questions. He knew they taking pictures of him. Richie couldn't get close to Henry because other reporters were in his way, asking questions they were throwing at him. The interviews were over, so Henry tried going back to his dressing room. He had his name being called. He looked over his shoulder and saw Richie running to catch up.

"Mr. Webber, may I interview you where there isn't a racket?" Richie asked.

"Okay with me, but if it's a quiet room. I don't know who you are," Henry told Richie.

"I'm one of Milwaukee Journal's reporters. I write for the gossip column. My name is Richard," Richie said.

"We can do the interview in my dressing room," Henry said to Richie.

Patrick watched Henry walk into the studio a second time, but this time it was with a reporter.

"Who is this, Henry?" Patrick asked.

"A Milwaukee Journal gossip writer. He wants to interview me for his column. We're doing the interview in my dressing room," Henry said to Patrick.

"Okay. I watched you out there. That was one crazy crowd of reporters. They sure were busy throwing questions and taking your picture," Patrick said.

"I don't want to talk about that now," Henry said as they headed to Henry's dressing room.

They closed the door behind themselves.

"Patrick, did you give Webber his diet program?" another agent asked Patrick.

"Yes, I did. We'll be sure to help him out in the beginning, starting tonight at suppertime," Patrick told another agent he was talking to.

Richie was asking Henry all sorts of questions about the comeback, but never mentioned Henry's being overweight at all during the interview.

"Mr. Webber, did you ever think about coming back to television?" Richie asked.

"On and off I did, but I wondered how often my fans missed me and all. If they don't miss me at all, I would've retired and stay home and play guide to my brother who is blind," Henry told Richie.

Richie asked Henry one more question and they were finished with the interview. Richie saw himself to the door and left the TV studio. Richie was happy he got his interview done and would start writing it for his column. He did notice Henry was a little overweight. He had guessed Henry probably gained about fifty pounds or so the last time he did television over the last ten years or so. He was going to mention in the column about Henry gaining a little weight besides the interview, just like the other reporters probably would in their columns in the paper. He didn't know how the rest of the family would react once they read the newspaper and found out that Henry was gaining a little weight.


	6. Chapter 6

Henry called Boston once more and got Hannah that time when the phone was answered on the second ring.

"Hi, Uncle Henry. We were wondering how your interviews went with the newspapers," she said after they said hello.

"Fine. There were so many of them throwing questions at me at the same time I could almost not answer any of the questions. They even took pictures of me," he said.

"What's your problem, Uncle Henry? Is there anything you'd like to talk about with us? Tim was saying to us that you sounded a little depressed when we spoke to you the other time," Hannah said.

"Okay. Maybe I was a little depressed. It is about my career," Henry told his niece.

"You tell us and we'll work this whole thing out," she said.

"Do you think I'm fat?" Henry asked.

"You fat? No. Is this what you're depressed about?" Hannah asked.

"They're telling me to lose forty pounds before we start taping. It looks that way. They didn't use the words fat or overweight, but I could hear it in their heads," Henry said.

"Who told you were fat?" Hannah asked.

"My agent, Patrick did. They even put me on the Weight Watchers program."

"There's nothing wrong with people loving to eat, Uncle Henry. You're one of them," she told him.

"They gave me a deadline to put off all forty pounds and that's one week! I don't loose weight the fast."

They talked for a while longer, then got off the phone. That evening had arrived. Henry had no idea what he was going to eat for supper that night, so he waited until the studio people came into his dressing room and tell him what he was going to eat that night. He wasn't sure when he was going to start the diet. He heard a knock on the dressing room door. He went to answer it. It was his agent, Patrick.

"Tonight is day one of your diet, Henry. We're going to help you during this week. Are you hungry yet?" Patrick asked.

"Yes, I am, Patrick. I am getting a little hungry," Henry admitted.

He walked out of the dressing room and followed Patrick to the kitchen.

"What would you like for tonight's supper?" Patrick asked as they went through the meals. Henry told him ravioli would taste good that night.

"Okay," Patrick said, taking the box out of the fridge.

They read the instructions together and put the meal in and heated it up.

"I was talking with the other agents and thought it was a good idea you would eat supper with your co - stars for one night and get to know them, since you'll be working with them on this show," Patrick said while they waited for the timer to go off.

"Okay. Sounds like a great idea. When are we doing that?" Henry asked.

"Tonight."

"Who has the starring role on this hot new show?" Henry wanted to know.

"We know it's not you because you're doing a comeback, Webber. It's a woman who has the starring role. Her name is Carla Kingman," Patrick told Henry.

"I've heard of her. She was on Dynasty for a while when that show was on air. I also saw her when she was on that one show, Birds and Bees," Henry said.

"That show had high ratings, Henry. Let's see how well your comeback is going to be first. We'll see where you're going from this show. People see you as Henry Winkler," Patrick told him.

"I know. They know how funny I am," he said.

The timer went off.

Patrick took the ravioli out and put it on a plate. He gave Henry a drink and let Henry follow him to where he would be sitting with the stars he was going to eat with that night. Henry took the last chair at the table that was waiting to be sat in. He sat by a teenage girl. She looked up at him and said hello. Carla was at the head of the table, so Henry didn't get a seat by her like he had hoped. The teenage girl he was sitting next to was named Lucy Black. She was only sixteen. He thought she looked younger than sixteen.

"Henry, the script says I'm to be your wife," Carla told him.

"Really? Interesting. In all the shows I was on, I had wives, but one of them I had was a stepson."

"I think I remember that show. Was it General Hospital you were thinking of? That wife of yours on the show was beautiful. I liked her," another woman named Teri James told him.

"You mean Penny Queen? She was a good actress. I haven't heard anything about her lately. I'm supposed to be the comeback star on this show. I haven't heard what it's called," Henry said to his co - stars.

"Comeback Kid," Lucy answered.

"An interesting name for a comedy show," Henry said to Lucy's answer.

"I'm supposed to be the part of your neighbor, Henry, as the script says. I'm to date your older son," Lucy told him.

"I've read the script. When I got it in the mail, I laughed until I choked on a meal I was eating. I've never laughed that hard before in my whole life," he said.

Henry's television son was being played by an actor named Will Harvey.

They talked for the rest of the meal. Henry started feeling tired, so he retired early for the evening.

"We start taping next week," Lucy said during the meal.

Henry started yawning.

"Well, I had fun talking with you guys. I hope we all have fun working together. I think I'd better turn in," he said.

He said good - night to his co - stars and left the table. He realized he was the first one to leave the table. When he was put in a close - by hotel not too far from the TV studio, he went and took a bath and washed his hair and hopped into bed and slept well that night.

The next morning had arrived. He arrived at the studio around nine o'clock for rehearsal. Patrick watched him arrive. He ushered Henry into his office.

"Henry, we got this morning's newspaper. We got it about a couple of hours ago. They have written an article about your comeback. I want you to hear it," Patrick told Henry.

"Sure, go ahead. Read it. Hope it's a good review," he said.

Patrick opened the newspaper and had Rachel Miller's article in the front page.

"You're in the front page," Patrick told Henry.

WEBBER COMEBACK, the headline read.

"Henry Webber, one of the most popular actors from General Hospital is making a comeback to television. What a surprise that is! We're ready for some more laughs, Webber! Webber has not been in the spotlight for over twenty or thirty years now. He must know that all his fans have missed him and missed all the laughs.

We look at Webber today at 68 years old instead of thirty years ago at 38. He started out being a popular TV star many years ago in his 20s or 30s in the sequel to Cheers. People have loved him since. His first role in that sequel to Cheers was being a nephew to Sam," read the article.

Before Patrick could continue reading the article, Henry had to interrupt.

"They miss me, don't they?" he asked.

"Yes, they do. There's more to the article than that, Henry. Should I continue on?" Patrick asked.

"Go ahead. What newspaper is this?" Henry asked.

"The Atlanta Journal and Constitution," Patrick answered.

"Oh. Just wondering," Henry said.

Back in Boston, Hannah was reading the newspaper out loud to Arthur and Tim because they had the front page.

"Gosh, it's about Uncle Henry!" she said.

"What does the article say about Henry? Read it, Hannah!" Arthur said.

Hannah saw Henry's picture and saw that Henry had been over the phone on their conversation.

"Uncle Henry was right! Those TV people did put him on a diet!" Hannah said, seeing a closer look in the paper.

"Just read the article, Hannah. We'll worry about this silly diet of his when we're done reading about what the paper has to say," Arthur told his daughter.

"Webber has had a successful career over the years. Now making a comeback in a hot new show called 'Comeback Kid', we'll see where his career will take over at age 68. We have loved Webber in General Hospital as Ranger Kijewski. We had loved laughing at him at the roles he had on the shows he had in the past. We also loved him in the action show, 'Batman Returns.' He was awesome in the show. We loved him on the role as the Joker," the article went on.

"Webber's new role in 'Comeback Kid' is a loveable character named Seth Fluke. We have probably forgotten about the nephew he played on the sequel to Cheers named Jeffrey who happened to be a bartender, just like Sam was. If Webber wasn't an actor, what would he be doing? We love you on TV, Webber. Keep the laughter coming! We really missed you. Good luck with your comeback, WEBBER!" the article finished.

Hannah finished reading the article and put the paper down.


	7. Chapter 7

"Hi, honey! I'm home!" Henry said when he walked into the house.

"Hi, Seth, darling. How was your day at the office?" Carla's voice asked him.

Arthur didn't recognize Carla. He didn't know who the heck she was.

"It was fine, dear. I had a swell today. The boss gave me a thousand dollar raise! He gave me the rest of the month off. How do you feel about a vacation?" Arthur heard Henry ask Carla.

"I'm so proud of you getting a thousand dollar raise, Seth! I've never heard of someone like you getting that much money for a raise!" she said, giving Henry a hug and a kiss at the same time.

There was laughter when she gave him a kiss and a hug at the mention of the thousand dollar raise.

Arthur laughed at that part also when the audience on TV did. Henry's TV son, came on the screen.

"Hey, Mom, I'm going on a date tonight. Do you think it's possible that I can borrow some money? It's just for the date, you know," he said.

"Talk to Dad, dear. The news is that he got a thousand dollar raise today from his boss! Isn't that great news?" Carla asked.

"That's swell, Dad! Can I borrow some of your money for my date tonight?" Chris asked Henry.

"You can have twenty dollars for your date, Chris. I want to save some of it for our vacation we're going on. What time is your date?" Henry his son on TV.

"Seven o'clock, Dad. We're going to dinner and the movies and maybe dance a little," Will said.

"Okay. Who is your date?" Henry asked, getting interested in the girls he own son had dated over the years.

"The neighbor girl down the street, Dad. I asked her to go out with me tonight, and she said yes," Will said.

"Go have fun on your date. We expect you to be home by midnight," Henry said, handing Will a new twenty - dollar bill.

"Thanks, Dad! Sweet! A new twenty - dollar bill! How cool!" Will said and took the cash from Henry's hands and left for his room for the date.

There was more laughter. The show had lasted for an hour that night. Arthur thought it was one of the funniest shows he'd ever heard. He wished he could have his eyes back so he could see his brother on the screen. The next morning at the TV studio, the papers were talking about Henry's comeback and the first episode from the night before. Patrick read to Henry how well he had done on the comeback.

"They loved the show, Henry. Great work on the comeback. You got a lot of laughs," Patrick said.

"So they did love me for a second time around!" he said after hearing the result of ratings.

"They did miss you after you were gone after almost a decade. We're glad to have you back. Your career is picking up again," Patrick said.

The phone rang and the call turned out to be for Henry.

"Your family is on from Boston, wanting to speak to you and they're saying the call is urgent," Patrick told Henry.

"May I speak in here?" he asked.

Patrick left his office and let Henry speak on his line.

"Hello?" Henry asked when he got on the phone.

"Hi, Uncle Henry," he heard Hannah say on the phone.

"Hi, Hannah, dear."

"We enjoyed your show the other night. It was a lot of laughs. How did the rating turn out?" Hannah asked.

"My agent just gave me the ratings on the show. It was really high. People love me again!" he said, pleased with the number of ratings of 'Comeback Kid.'


	8. Chapter 8

Some of Henry's fans had heard he was at the airport and they ran to him where he was sitting and started to go crazy and started asking for autographs. He took his fans' pens and signed whatever they had and they watched him like crazy while he signed an autograph. They screamed every time they got an autograph from him.

When a woman was watching him sign an autograph, she told Henry, "Did you know you're my favorite from General Hospital, Henry? I never missed one episode you were on, including your first."

He thanked her for the compliment.

"If you weren't an actor, what would you be doing? Be singing rock and roll or country like the rest of your family?" another woman asked.

"I can't sing, ma'am. I can't be on records if I can't sing. The only time I can sing is while I'm at church," Henry told her.

When Hannah arrived at the airport, she found thousands of people crowded around Henry, wanting autographs.

"Sorry, ladies and gentlemen. My ride is here. No more autographs," he said, seeing Hannah.

The fans were disappointed when they watched him pick up his suitcases and leave with Hannah and walk out of the airport.

"What was the crowd about, Uncle Henry?" Hannah asked once they put his bags in the trunk of her car.

"My fans somehow spotted me at the airport waiting for someone and started screaming and asking for autographs. That's what I've done since I arrived," he told her.

"They've missed you since you left TV," she said.

"I know. I've done autographs before, but it's been a while," he said.

"I know. An elderly man like you doing autographs. Some people did get excited when you were there doing those autographs," Hannah said.

"I won't get to see my first grandchild!" he said.

Time had passed and Henry was still doing Comeback Kid and the show was still a hit. Season Two was already there and everyone loved it since episode one of Season One.


End file.
